Panel board and parts thereof



Dec. 21, 1937. w FRANK ET AL 2,103,069

PANEL BOARD AND PARTS THEREOF Filed Dec. 26, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet l Dec. 21, 1937. w. H. FRANK El AL PANEL BOARD AND PARTS THEREOF 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 26, 1935 9C2, INVENT R5 a%; m BY ATTORNEY.

Dec. 21, 19370 w. H. FRANK ET AL 2,103,069

PANEL BOARD AND PARTS THEREOF 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Dec. 26, 1935 ATTORNEY.

Dec. 21, 1937. w. H. FRANK ET AL 2,103,069

PANEL BOARD AND PARTS THEREOF Filed Dec. 26, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 I.;A;': i

\ INVENTOR5 ATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 21, 1937 PATENT OFFIQE PANEL BOARD AND PARTS THEREOF William H. Frank, Clarence T. Hollingsworth, and Lawrence E. Fisher, Detroit, Mich.

Application December 26, 1935, Serial No. 56,227

4 Claims.

This application relates to distribution panels.

It is common practice in the art of panelboard construction to make the panel of units so that the panelboards are of the sectional type, and

the panelboard here shown follows this practice. The panelboard here shown, however, differs from sectional panelboards heretofore known in features of construction of the units per se, in features of construction of the switches which form part of the units, in features of mountings for shielding plates and blank filler plates, in features of locking arrangements for the fuses of the units, and in other features of construction.

One feature of design is a novel construction for the units per se and particularly for the switches of the same. The units have on their backs slots receiving bus bars disposed edgewise therein and the units are provided with novel switching arrangements for connecting branch circuits to these bus bars. The switches of the units include stationary contacts and movable contacts carried by slides forming parts of housings terminating in handles projecting forwardly from the units and mere reciprocation of these housings manually accomplishes the desired switching operations.

Another feature of design is the novel arrangement for mounting shielding plates and blank filler plates. These plates, as here shown,

are substantially U-shaped and the ends of the U are formed with tongues which cooperate with holes in upturned flanges of a mounting plate to hold these plates in place.

Still another feature of design is a novel fuse locking arrangement provided by fuse locking covers or inner doors hingedly mounted on a trim plate of the panel to cover the fuses thereof and adapted to be locked shut to debar access to the fuses or to be unlocked to expose the fuses, as

desired.

Still further objects of the invention will readily occur to those skilled in the art upon reference to the following description and the accompanying drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a panelboard;

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged section of a unit on line 3-3 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of a unit, with the covers thereof removed;

Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of a unit switch section cover;

Fig. 6 is a connection and switching diagram;

Fig. 7 is a section on line '-'I of 3, show- 56 ing a movable switching element;

Fig. 8 is a section on line 88 of Fig. 7;

Figs. 9 and 10 show a modified arrangement of fuse locking covers, in elevation, and in section on line Ill-l0, Fig. 9, respectively.

The panelboard The panelboard here shown includes a sheet metal cabinet or tub l0 having its back wall I! mounted against a surface i2 which supports the panelboard. The front of the cabinet is open 10 but may be closed by a front cover or trim plate l4 secured thereto by screws i5 passing through corner lugs of the cabinet and the cover l l sup ports a hingedly-mounted door if; and a masking flange l'l cooperating with the panel l8 in the 15 cabinet to conceal the wiring gutters i9 and the top and bottom and spaces between the panel and the walls of the cabinet. On the back of the cabinet is a mounting plate 28 supported by straps 20a and screws 2%, and against this plate and disposed one above the other are the units 2| which form the panel N3 of the panelboard.

The unit Each unit 2| comprises a body composed of 25 molded insulation or the like formed to provide top and bottom walls 22, end sections 23, and a central switch containing section 24 in whose back wall are rearwardly opening slots 21 eX- tending from top to bottom of the unit; the slots 30 21 of adjacent units align to form continuous channels which run from the top to the bottom of the panel and in which are disposed edgewise the main bus bars 28.

The end blocks are formed with cavities 38 open 35 to the front of the unit and these cavities are provided with entrance holes 3! opening to the adjacent end Walls of the unit. In the cavities are fuse receivers 32 which may be in the form of socket shells or in the form of fuse clips, and the 40 fuse receivers are equipped with wire connection screws by means of which branch circuit wires 34, disposed in the wiring gutters l9 and introduced into the cavities 3% through the entrance holes 3| thereof, may have their terminals physi- 45 cally and electrically connected to the fuse receivers.

The switches Qt formed on the cover ii of the switch section, which bridge straps are equipped with resilient contact prongs 52 adaptedto engage predeter-' between the pairs of contacts 363l insulation slides ifihaving slugs at of conducting material.

- The slides are formed as parts of housings Q5 which closely surround the contacts 363'l, with each of these contacts received in a cell between a slide 33 and its housing. When the housings are pulled towards the front of the unit, the slugs l i thereof bridge the adjacent contacts 36-3? for establishing connections between the bus bars and the branch circuit con ductors. On the other hand, when the housings are pushed rearwardly, by means of the handle portions 46 thereof which project through slots ll of the switch section cover 4!, the slugs are out of engagement with contacts ate-31 and the circuits controlled by such housings are open.

It will be observed that the mere act of placing the switch section cover 4| on the front of the unit electrically connects the switches to the bus bars and that mere removal of such cover, providing access to these switches, automatically disconnects these switches from the bus bars.

It will also be observed that the proper positioning of the contact prongs 42 on the cover #3! determines the selection of the bus bars 28 to be connected to the bridging straps of the cover 4! and to the branch circuit conductors controlled by such bridging straps and the switches connected to such straps.

Plate mounting At the ends of the panel are live parts (not shown) and these are shielded, in accordance with good electrical practice, by means of U- shaped shields 54 in front of these live parts and held thereon by means of tongues 55 struck inwardly from the ends of such shields cooperating with notches 55 cut in the upturned and flanged margins 5? of the mounting plate 26 which is disposed between the units and the back of the cabinet, and which is secured to such back.

The arrangement herein described for mounting the shields 54% is also utilized formoimting blankfiller plates 69 which are used to absorb spaces left for reserve units. 7

The blank filler plates and the shields are Sim.-

Llar in contour not only to one another but also to the units which together with such shields and plates form the panel. a

Fuse locks .or plates extend from the top flange E3 to the bottom flange i of the masking plate and overlie the fuses of the units to debar access thereto.

For locking these doors in place there is provicled at the upper end of the panel a locking bar l5 having downwardly bent terminals 16 projecting through slots if in the upper flange 13 of the masking plate. When the locking bar '15 is in such a position that its terminals register with notches 18 of the fuse locking doors IQ, these latter may be swung forwardly to expose the fuses; on the other hand, when the locking bar 75 is so positioned that'its terminals are out of registry with the notches l8 of the doors l0,

these doors are held against being swung open and are maintained in fuse concealing position. The locking bar i5 is operatively connected to a key operated lock i9 mounted in the front or trim plate i i in a conventional manner so that rotation of the key, when the latter is in its lock, will move the locking bar into and out of its fuse cover locking position.

In the event the fuse covers are not to be used, not only will the fuse covers be omitted but also there would be omitted the slots T! of the flange 73 of the'masking plate H, the locking bar 15,

and the key controlled lock 19. 7 Another fuse locking cover arrangement is shown in Figs. 9 and 10. In this arrangement, the inner doors llB'have lugs ill adapted toseat in notches 872 of a masking plate flange H3 which is hingedly mounted at lid on a masking plate ['55 and which is provided with a lug H6 adapted to be engaged by a pin ill eccentrically disposed on a rotary lock barrel H8. 7 V 7 When the lock is released, the barrel H8 is rotated so that its pin ll! clears lug I16 to permit flange E13 to be moved away from the ends of the doors ill] and release them. Otherwise, the

parts are held locked to debar access to the fuses.

We claim: 1. A panelboard comprising a panel having switches in a central stripe thereof and circuit protective means in side stripes thereof, a maskswitches in a central stripe thereof and circuit protective means in side stripesthereof, amasking plate having a large opening exposing the panel with the edges of the opening 'adjacent 55 edges of the panel, and rneans for covering the circuit protective stripes onlycomprising side cover plates withinthe masking plate opening and proportioned to extend over the circuit protective stripes only, and movably mounted on side edges thereof, and a lock controlling said side cover plates only and accessible from in front of said masking plate through an opening thereof, and positioned behind the maslnng plate and above the upper edge of the masking plate opening and operating on the cover plates through me ans above and adjacent the upper edge of the panel.

3. A panelboard comprising a panel having switches in a central stripe thereof and circuit protective means in side stripes thereof, a masking plate having a large opening exposing the panel with the edges of the opening adjacent edges of the panel, and means for covering the circuit protective stripes only comprising side :40 ing plate having a' large opening exposing the cover plates within the masking plate opening and proportioned to extend over the circuit protective stripes only and movably mounted on side edges thereof, and a lock controlling said side cover plates only and accessible from in front of said masking plate through an opening thereof, and positioned behind the masking plate and above the upper edge of the masking plate opening and operating on the cover plates through means above and adjacent the upper edge of the panel, the last mentioned means including a sliding locking bar whose ends project downwardly through a flange of the masking plate at the upper edge of the opening thereof to overlie the upper ends of the side cover plates.

4. A panelboard comprising a panel having switches in a central stripe thereof and circuit protective means in side stripes thereof, a masking plate having a large opening exposing the panel with the edges of the opening adjacent edges of the panel, and means for covering the circuit protective stripes only comprising side cover plates within the masking plate opening and proportioned to extend over the circuit protective stripes only and movably mounted on side edges thereof, and a lock controlling said side cover plates only and accessible from in front of said masking plate through an opening thereof, and positioned behind the masking plate and above the upper edge of the masking plate opening and operating on the cover plates through means above and adjacent the upper edge of the panel, the last mentioned means including a movably mounted flange of the masking plate at the upper edge of the opening thereof.

WILLIAM H. FRANK.

CLARENCE T. HOLIJNGSWORTH.

LAWRENCE E. FISHER. 

